A Small Room Shook - Four Bands, One Entry
The 5 piece group sounds like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and Korn got pregnant together and popped out this Minneapolis youthful gem (and named it with better spelling. Who knows, they could have gone with Aymlez Theory). Anyways... the group showed off some pretty tasteful guitar licks and a better than average drummer. Lead singer/rapper Gabriel Wacker bounced between punch-your-face rapping, pretty consistently single tone screams, and some intermittent singing. Second singer/rapper Josh easily moved from playing guitar and backing up some vocals to his own highlight rap moments. In between songs, the band transitioned effortlessly and addressed the crowd thoroughly.
Although knowing the name, I’d never heard 7th Ascent, I was able to catch the very last of their set. The lead singer rocked a wicked corset and flaming hair, but the rest of the group was unmemorable. Despite compelling riffs and impressive lyrical ability, the group’s stage presence lacked luster, and (as one of my pet-peeves) their transitions were nothing more than blatant stops and crowd addresses. The group finished without a big bang, and exited the stage. Impressive musically, but not a show I’d seek (might as well listen to the record).